On 31 March 2004, the European Commission held a stakeholder meeting, (attended by Catherine Wattiez and David Buffin of PAN Europe) on Aerial Spraying, in the context of its elaboration of the Thematic Strategy on pesticides.
Many pro-spraying companies present stressed the environmental benefits from low volume, GPS-guided, sophisticated technologies but no demonstrated evidence was presented, although some US studies were mentioned. Aerial application practice differs among EU MS, e.g. Greece no longer aerial sprays olives but Spain does, there is aerial spraying on forests in Germany but no longer in Austria. Total bans exist currently only in Denmark, Estonia, Slovenia, with partial bans in Italy, Cyprus, Austria and Belgium. French and Spanish helicopter companies which spray vineyards lobbied hard, arguing that all application is precisely controlled and there is no alternative on steep slopes. Some companies argued that aerial spraying could be part of IPM requirements because it “can follow much more precisely recommendations from extension services and pest forecasting”.